Iran’s President: 2 Americans Could Be Freed Soon

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s president predicted Tuesday that two Americans arrested while hiking along the Iraq-Iran border and sentenced to eight years in jail on espionage-related charges could be freed “in a couple of days” after a court set bail of $500,000 each.

The events appeared timed to boost the image of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad coinciding with his visit to New York next week for the U.N. General Assembly session. Last year, a third American was released on bail around the same time.

In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the United States was “encouraged” by Ahmadinejad’s comments about freeing Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal.

“We obviously hope that we will see a positive outcome from what appears to be a decision by the government,” Clinton said at the State Department.

The families of Bauer and Fattal said in a statement that they are “overjoyed” by the reports from Iran.

Lawyer Masoud Shafiei said the court would begin the process to free Bauer and Fattal after payment of the bail, which must be arranged through third parties because of U.S. economic sanctions on Iran. The timing of the court’s decision is similar to last year’s bail deal mediated by the Gulf state of Oman that freed a third American, Sarah Shourd.

“They accepted to set bail to release,” Shafiei told The Associated Press after leaving court. “The amount is the same for Sarah.”

Ahmadinejad, in an interview aired on NBC’s “Today” show, predicted the Americans could be freed “in a couple of days.” He described the bail offer as a “humanitarian gesture” and repeated complaints about attention for Iranians held in U.S. prisons.

The Americans were arrested in July 2009 along the border and accused by Iran of espionage. The trio have denied the charges and say they may have mistakenly crossed into Iran when they stepped off a dirt road while hiking near a waterfall in the semiautonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

Last month, Bauer and Fattal, both 29, were sentenced to three years each for illegal entry into Iran and five years each for spying for the United States. They appealed the verdicts. Shourd’s case remains open.

Shafiei said he has passed along details of the court’s decision to the Swiss Embassy, which represents U.S. interests in Iran because there are no diplomatic relations between Tehran and Washington.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said officials were in touch with Swiss envoys “to get more details from the Iranian authorities.”

Iran appears to have timed the court decision to coincide with Ahmadinejad’s U.N. visit. Last year, Shourd was released on bail just as Ahmadinejad was heading for the annual gathering of world leaders.

But Ahmadinejad was not likely involved closely in any decisions on the case. Iran’s judiciary is controlled by the country’s ruling clerics, who have been waging relentless pressure on Ahmadinejad and his allies as part of an internal power struggle.

The diplomatic pathways for possible bail payments was not immediately clear. Officials in Oman — which has close ties with the U.S. and Iran — did not immediately respond for comment on whether they could again offer assistance.

The prime minister of Pakistan, which handles Iran’s diplomatic interests in the U.S., has been in Iran since Sunday. But there has been no indication that Yousef Raza Gilani is playing any role in the case.

The possible release of the two Americans would remove one point of tension between Iran and the United States, but suspicions still exist on both sides and no thaw is in sight.

Washington and European allies worry Iran is using its civilian nuclear program as cover to develop atomic weapons and have urged for even stronger sanctions to pressure Tehran. Iran denies any efforts to make nuclear weapons.

Iran, meanwhile, is deeply concerned about the U.S. military on its borders in Iraq and Afghanistan, and sharply denounces U.S. influence in the Middle East.

The families of Bauer and Fattal said in their statement that the pair’s freedom “means more to us than anything and it’s a huge relief to read that they are going to be released.”

“While we do not have further details at this time, we are overjoyed by the positive news reports from Iran,” the statement said.

“We’re grateful to everyone who has supported us and looking forward to our reunion with Shane and Josh,” it added. “We hope to say more when they are finally back in our arms.”

Shourd is living in Oakland, California; Bauer, a freelance journalist, grew up in Onamia, Minnesota; and Fattal, an environmental activist, is from suburban Philadelphia. Bauer proposed marriage to Shroud while in prison.

The last direct contact family members had with Bauer and Fattal was in May 2010 when their mothers were permitted a short visit in Tehran.

Their case closely parallels that of freelance journalist Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American who convicted of spying before being released in May 2009. Saberi was sentenced to eight years in prison, but an appeals court reduced that to a two-year suspended sentence and let her return to the U.S.

At the time, a spokesman for the Iranian judiciary said the court ordered the reduction as a gesture of “Islamic mercy” because Saberi had cooperated with authorities and expressed regret.

In May 2009, a French academic, Clotilde Reiss, also was freed after her 10-year sentence on espionage-related charges was commuted.

Last year, Iran freed an Iranian-American businessman, Reza Taghavi, who was held for 29 months for alleged links to a bombing in the southern city of Shiraz, which killed 14 people. Taghavi denied any role in the attack.

Rachel Slavik joined the WCCO team in October of 2010 and is thrilled to be back in her hometown. Rachel spent three years in the sweltering heat of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She anchored, produced, and reported at WVLA. During her time in the Deep...

I feel sorry for your astunstor. It will suffer from beatings after your passing from this world. So it is written in the book of Gerald, and we all know that if you don’t read and follow the book of Gerald that your astunstor will suffer mightily in a lake of hot oil forever. Boogedy Woogedy.

Useful? Encouraging the credulous to change from one mind control belief system to another? No. Useful is actually doing something that helps people; feeding them, clothing them, providing better water systems, housing, medical assistance, etc. Prostelytizing to the superstitious and ignorant is not help. Peace.

With all of the hatred these arrogant elitists have created here they will likely be murdered within weeks. I used to respect Iran for sticking to their guns. Not any more. A million for these two losers (OK well 3 losers)…?

We’ve disided the young men should stay in Iran until they grow up, and think about life in sharia land as being almost free. They can work here for 10 years each and be monitured with an ankle band 24 hours per day. One young man will then work sweeping and cleaning the streets each day. The other could work helping our pipeline security like a guard with a hand held radio each day. The young men could switch jobs if they’d like every 2 weeks. If the youngmen work hard and obey our laws at the end of 7 years we could swich jobs for them again.
The boys would either go to a better ficility or a worse ficility depending on how there work record and record obeying our law goes, just as we do here in Iran.
We’re hoping the young men will want to stay and become a Muslim. The security bands would of course stay on the ankle for as long as they stay in Iran. Our county might want to use the boys as military border patrol security. To help our soldiors that can not speak english.

Its being reported that the three “hikers” are planning a celebratory excursion on the North Korean border lands upon their release. After all they have been through they deserve the much needed getaway.

There aren’t enough hiking trails in Utah or Montana? You have to go hiking near the Iranian border? This reminds me of the morons who attempt to climb mountains in the winter, then get in trouble, then search and rescue has to risk their lives and maybe give up their lives trying to save them. The National Guard gets called out, helicopters crash, all because some dopes wanted to prove their man and woman hood. This whole thing is a farce from the get go.

Our tax dollars will be going towards the release of 3 people who simply couldn’t follow rules of a different country! This is outrageous! Once they return to the U.S. they will get millions to make appearances on TV, most likely will get a book deal and possibly a movie! Nice, we bail them out and then they make money!

If that is the case I hope they have to pay us back!! I kind of wish some bookie bailed them out then he could charge them juice on the loan, and make them pay it back. It would beat an Iranian prison anyways.

I cannot believe the hateful coments that are here! Anyone who does not have compassion for these two young men, who were just out for a hike are what is truly wrong with this country! I am hoping WCCO could let me know of a fund I can contribute to so we can get these guys home. They have been pawns in a political game Iran is playing and did nothing wrong!

I sure hope my tax $$$$$ don’t go to get these morons out. Lots of places in this country to hike. One of them is from Onamia, MN
A hike in Northern MN would have got them in no trouble. I’ll be glad when this story goes away.

I agree with you Carrie. I am surprised at the ignorance (likely most of them claim to be Christians, yet have a sadistic compulsion to see others suffer) of many of these posters. These two guys did something foolish and exercised poor judgement-who hasn’t? But to think that they deserve to languish in a foreign prison for the “crime” of wandering over a boarder is just sadism. Peace.

D.N.H. is correct. Bail is to insure you return for trial. But that is here. Who knows what it means there. These two better promise to who ever puts up the bail they will never get within 1000 miles of a situation like this again! They are on their own next time.

“At the time, a spokesman for the Iranian judiciary said the court ordered the reduction as a gesture of “Islamic mercy” because Saberi had cooperated with authorities and expressed regret.”

If this is true, then the corollary must also follow; the arrest and subsequent detention was an example of Islamic sadism and subjugation. I don’t think the Iranian judiciary spokesman thought this one through. Peace.

Does anyone actually believe they weren’t spies for our government? This was the easiest, legal way to get them back and not have to answer questions about why we are paying countries like Iran to release spies. If the general public thinks we are paying bail for some hikers it looks better.

As I wrote in a previous comment that wasn’t posted, Sarah S. and her then boyfriend, now fiance’, were living and working somewhere in or near Iraq for a few years prior to their arrests. (I believe she taught or they were involved in some compassionate program.) If I remember right, their other friend came to visit, or he also had been living there. They didn’t just choose to go to Iraq/Iran for a nice vacation/hike.

Although I would never choose to do what they did, and hopefully, they will never go near the Middle East again if they’re released, I cannot believe the insensitive, callous remarks and assumptions by some of the posters here. I also feel very badly for the families of these 3 individuals.